Whether you’ll eventually look back on 2021 and see it as good, bad, or a mix of both, you likely recognize that, irrespective of those labels, it was a year in which you learned a few things about yourself, the people around you, or the world in general. In fact, you’ve probably learned more than you realize, in all of those areas, over the past 12 months.

At least one of those things you’ve learned is worth keeping.

So let’s look at that as a precious treasure. Here’s how: Pretend for a moment that you can keep only one lesson learned, just one bit of wisdom or insight from the past 12 months that you get to take forward into the rest of your life. Holding true to this little thought experiment, every other lesson, save this one, will vanish – POOF! – the instant you make your selection, so you’ll need to choose very carefully here.

If you’re having trouble either thinking of any lesson worth saving OR identifying only one to preserve, then maybe an example could help.

Because I know what my lesson is, and I’m willing to share:

Expecting people to do things that they are neither interested in nor capable of doing is a lose-lose proposition, equally unfair to both people, the one who is expecting something and the one of whom something is expected.

Your lesson might be something much simpler. Perhaps you’ve learned that you don’t actually like a food, activity, or other endeavor that was routine before the pandemic. Maybe breaking that habit helped you recognize that you were doing something you didn’t really enjoy doing, and only in the absence could the lesson appear.

Whether it’s profound or mundane, you’ve learned at least one lesson that’s worth keeping. I know you have. Today’s the day to claim it, acknowledge the gift, and plan to carry it forward.

That is all.

See you tomorrow.

P.S. Surely you’ve realized by now that the download link’s always going to be here at the end of every post, even if you wait until the last day of December to decide that you did, in fact, want to download the entire monthly journal. Today is always day one for someone, and maybe that someone is you. Here’s the link.